News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

The name has changed but it’s still a huge draw for folks throughout the state. From September 3-19 over 600,000 people will attend Expo New Mexico 2004. Our club will have a table in the mineral display section of the Creative Arts building every weekend of this year’s event. I still have plenty of openings for volunteers to help out for this event. The Expo is our single largest exposure to the general public and the major source of new members. It takes at least 36 people over the 3 weekends and I still need to find 20 more volunteers. Not only will you be helping the club but, believe it or not, (believe it) it is fun. All you need to do is sit for 3 hours and make sure kids don’t take more than one of our giveaway specimens. The club provides free parking and free entry into the Expo for the day you volunteer. What better deal can you ask for?

If you can’t be at the fair you can still call me (Orlando Garcia) and help out bagging and tagging small specimens for giveaways. We need to have around 1,200- 1,500 bagged specimens for this event. Some people have already brought me larger specimens but we really need small minerals which will fit in a 2"x2" or a 2"x3" ziplock bag. If you want to help but aren’t sure how you can help just call me or e-mail me.

for Minerals, Fossils, & Lapidary are on page 150. Here are the general rules:

"All entries must be clean, securely mounted on an appropriate base if less than 2" in diameter, correctly labeled with scientific identification, location found, and neatly displayed. Specimens may be solitary or in a collection and must fit in the spaces provided. Collections are limited to 10 individual specimens or one 8"x10" frame display case (Riker) with each specimen in the collection correctly labeled."

I will have this information and rules for judging entries at the next general meeting on August 23.

This year the 37^th annual Denver Gem & Mineral Show is scheduled a week later than usual. It will take place at the Denver Merchandise Mart on September 17-19. This year the show theme is Zeolites and Friends. The show is presented in conjunction with the Colorado Fossil Expo. The are both in the same building and all for $5.00 with in and out handstamps for the entire day. There is a free shuttle to another 5 hotel shows. What a deal!!!

Your minerals are welcome at the monthly club meeting. Don’t forget, however, that 10% of your sales is given to AGMC.

President - Grant Kuck; Home phone: 323-1520; E-mail: gkuck@flc.org

VP-Speakers - Ray DeMark; Home phone: 822-8715; E-mail: RayDeMark@msn.com

VP-Membership - Kimberly Richie; Home phone: 296-8847; E-mail: cattrax55@wmconnect.com

VP-Field Trips – Open

Secretary - Scott Wilson; Home phone – 792-0951; E-mail: swilson@copper.net

Treasurer - Stephanie Melof; Home phone: 281-7192; E-mail: stephbell22@yahoo.com

Historian  - Dave Moats; Home phone: 892-8163; E-mail: beepbeep59@hotmail.com

Editor - Darlene Nelson;; Home phone: 271-4694; E-mail: agmcnews@aol.com

Special Events - Orlando Garcia; Home phone: 345-0520; E-mail: jabog02@msn.com

The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club was organized on January 22, 1944. The club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and enjoyment of the Earth Sciences and associated subjects. Its primary purpose is the exchange of information and the furtherance of knowledge of Mineralogy, Fossils, Geology, Rock Cutting and Gem Faceting and to stimulate interest in the development of these studies.

All Meetings are held at the NM Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, NM. The general meeting is held on the 4^th Monday of the month (unless otherwise announced) at 7:30 p.m. The Junior Club meets at 6:45 p.m. prior to the general meeting. Board of Directors’ meetings are held at 7:30 pm on the first Monday of each month. (Call for location). The public is welcome to both meetings.

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

To everyone who had a part in the AGMC's picnic, Thank you.  A special thank you to the Baca's generosity.  Frank's and his wife's hospitality were greatly appreciated.  And then there's Jerry Simmons who gave up his Saturday for us to serve as Historian, Tour Guide, and "Answer Man" to every club member with a rock or mineral question. Then there are club members like Kimberly Ritchie who organized the picnic, the club members who participated, and everybody who brought all that great food.  As I was saying:  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

We interrupt all these thank you's for the following important reminder.  Don't forget the NM State Fair is coming up and the club needs volunteers to man our booths on the weekends.  To make life easier for our volunteers the club does issue parking passes.  It's a great opportunity to represent the club for a few hours and then take in the Fair.  For more information please check with Orlando Garcia.

Two other quick notes before we get back to the thank you's...First its not to early to consider serving on the next AGMC Board.  As a club member you are always invited to the monthly Board meetings to see what transpires.  Some of the positions we would like to fill for next year include Secretary and a Field Trip Coordinator.  You could even serve as an Ad hoc member of the AGMC Board.  If you would like to help the club out by joining the Board please talk to Scott Wilson or myself. Secondly we are checking out places for our weekend Christmas party.  If you know of a conference room, hall, or any large room that we can get a good deal on, or borrow, rent, or lease please talk to any member of the Board.  Also, as the club looks to the future for alternate meeting sites, this information could become very important. This concludes our important reminder.  We now continue thanking people.  A special thanks and tip of the hat goes to Tom Schmierer for all his work on the AGMC guidelines.  It is very much appreciated.  Also thanks to Orlando Garcia and Julie Bustamante for providing snacks and drinks at our last club meeting.  This month's refreshment will be provided by Kathy.  Kathy, who, you ask?  Well come to our next meeting and find out.  I'll see you there. 

It seems that the year goes too fast! As we approach the fall, it once again becomes time for elections of officers to lead the AGMC for next year. The club officer positions are: President, Vice President for Programs, Vice President for Field Trips, Treasurer, and Secretary. Along with the past president and two additional members appointed by the incoming president, these officers form the board of directors of the AGMC.

Every year, the election of new officers is held at the November general meeting. A slate of candidates is to be published in the September newsletter. So, we are now accepting nominations for officers for 2005. Serving as an officer is a great way to help guide the club in the direction you want it to go.

The term of office is one year, beginning at the December Board meeting. The installation of new officers occurs at the annual AGMC Christmas party, which is usually the first or second weekend in December.

The following positions are open for 2005:

VP of Programs - arranges for speakers for our monthly meetings

VP of Field Trips - sets up and leads our field trips

Secretary - maintains official minutes of board meetings and general meetings and handles official club correspondence

Treasurer - maintains our bank accounts, pays our bills, and handles our dues and AGMC mineral show income and expenses

It is not uncommon for two (or more) members to split the duty of an office, particularly for the VP positions, and this seems to work well.

Please consider supporting your AGMC by volunteering as a club officer for next year. It is a very rewarding experience! You can contact any club officer for additional information or to declare yourself as a candidate.

The outgoing officers are always available (and attend the first set of meetings of the new year) to help new officers learn the ropes.

Our club would like to let everyone in your club know about our large upcoming gem and mineral show.

Peggy Stewart, Publicity Chairman

WHO: Tulsa Rock & Mineral Society

WHEN: October 30-31, 2004

WHERE: Tulsa Event Center, 2625 South Memorial Drive, Tulsa, OK

Working Demonstrations

Continuous silent auctions

Hourly door prizes

Adult & children’s programs

Competitive & exceptional exhibits

Children’s games and experiments

Select national dealers

Thanks for the help with the Junior Club’s Sales Table at the Show – Charlotte Cooper, Karen Peterson, Maja Slavnic, and Jasmine from Silver City.

We’re trying to develop some new ideas for kids. Years ago we dropped the idea of a separate meeting time and day because it wasn’t convenient for enough people. Later we dropped separate Junior Field Trips for lack of interest.

Now, if we continue to have a Junior group before regular meetings, I need more ideas to work with..Call me at 344-3178 with your ideas. Tom Schmeirer has already come up with some ideas we can use. And if you want to take over the job of Junior Club Coordinator, well…..

At the meeting before last, we made a window for my house – Muscovite Mica. It looks good with the house. Thanks guys.

Polymorphous substances are those that crystallize in two or more different forms under different conditions. Examples are calcite and aragonite – quartz, cristobalite, tridymite – diamond and graphite – pyrite and marcasite – rutile, brookite, & anatase.

In a copper sulfide vein, the 5 minerals you can expect to find above the water table are native copper, malachite, azurite, cuprite, and chrysocolla.

Kyanite is typically found in gneisses or granitic pegmatites and in quartz veins.  It is also produced by the moderately high pressures associated with regional metamorphism of pelitic sediments.  

Sphalerite often resembles galena but yields no lead. It dissolves in hydrochloric acid giving off H₂S, hydrogen sulfide, and is recognized by its offensive odor.

Malachite and azurite, both copper carbonates, have chemical differences only in the percentage of water from 5.2% in azurite to 8.2% in malachite.

Chrysocolla is a mineral of secondary origin, commonly found associated with other secondary minerals of copper in the upper portions of copper veins.

Heulandite is one of the most open-structured of the zeolite minerals, containing several sets of open channels which house a variety of large ions and water molecules.

The zeolite group species of minerals are included in the silicate sub-class tektosilicates for structural reasons, although compared to the other they are very weak, easily disintegrated and chemically unstable.

Crystallography had its beginnings in the measurement and study of relatively large and well-formed crystals. Now it has become a major science of basic importance in chemistry, physics, metallurgy, and biology. Previously its major concern was with the external shapes and symmetries of crystals. These were accurately measured by the use of a narrow beam of light, reflecting from crystal faces. Now almost total interest has turned to their internal structures, as revealed by X-ray techniques. External symmetry is considered merely the necessary effect of internal structural causes.

The Roman scholar and naturalist Plinius the Elder (23-79AD)…gave us the name of the best known fossils – ammonites. He called them horn of the god Ammon, Cornu Ammonis.

Visitors: We had 14 visitors today! Welcome to our club!

State Fair: Hank Miller reports that the NM State Fair will be open Sep 2-19 2004. Each year, the AGMC operates a booth on the weekends at the fair to promote our club and hobby. We need volunteers to man our booth. We generally give out mineral specimens to interested people and answer questions (as best we can) about minerals in New Mexico. A free parking/admission pass (good for the whole day) is given to volunteers. Spend a couple of hours at the booth and the rest of the day prowling the fair. We also need help in bagging small specimens before the fair, so if you can help do that as well or instead of being at the fair itself, please let Orlando Garcia know and he'll get you set up! You might also consider putting some of your specimens on display in the club showcase at the fair; see Hank for details.

Program: Homer Milford presented a program on the mining history of the San Pedro Mountains. Homer is a local graduate of the University of New Mexico where he majored in biology. He then earned a MS from the University of Idaho, also in biology.  He worked for the NM state abandoned mines program for many years as a bat specialist. He has a keen interest in the history of mining in New Mexico, with a specialization on the Cerrillos and Ortiz districts.

The oldest mine in New Mexico is recorded as the Carnahan Mine in the San Pedro mountains, dating to 1581. It was located by Spanish explorers who noticed the presence of galena on the surface with some silver content. There is very little galena in the Ortiz district, so it escaped their attention even though it was later to be the source of a great deal of gold.

The Ortiz district had a major impact on the development of the Santa Fe Trail. Supplies were brought in and gold shipments sent back along this route. A small town, Real de Dolores (located near present day Galisteo) was flourishing in 1825, with a gambling hall owned and operated by a New Mexican woman named Dona Tueles. From her records, gold production was estimated at about $500,000 up through 1829.

Gold production at the Ortiz was hampered by the lack of water. The population of Real de Dolores typically grew to around 4000 in the winter (the population of the state at that time was around 50,000) in 1839, with the majority of the population being farmers working the gold mines while they were unable to farm.

In 1839 the "New Placers" district in the San Pedro mountains was found, located about 2 miles south of the Ortiz district. A town, Real de Francisco (now known as the town of Golden) became the major gold center.

About 1846 the US Army became a strong presence in the state, and the number of miners was greatly reduced as they could make better and more reliable wages by providing supplies to the Army than they could by trying their hand at gold mining.

The first hard rock mine in the Ortiz was opened in 1833, and was never a significant producer. The placer mines were far richer.

In the 1870s, the Cunningham pit (Ortiz) was opened as a big hard rock operation. There remain large reserves in the area.

The Ortiz district was renowned for several events; it was home to the first railroad in the Rocky Mountains in 1867, and also the first stamp mill in the Rocky Mountains in 1856.

Thomas Edison was involved in work in the Ortiz district; he developed a process for separating ores in around 1900. The process involved using air separation using electric blowers. The technique ultimately was found to be a failure due to the presence of water in the placer sands; the water made the sands to sticky to allow the magnetite and gold to be separated from the waste materials.

The steam and power plants in the Ortiz district were supplied with coal from the Madrid coal mines.

The placers typically had about 20 to 100 feet of gravel on bedrock, with the paydirt being right on the bedrock. A technique called "shaft placering" was invented at Real de Dolores in which a shaft is sunk from the surface down to the bedrock, and small unsupported drifts cut out radially from the shaft right at the bedrock. The drifts could only go out about twenty feet from the shaft before the roof would collapse; the gravels were naturally cemented but were not all that strong.

The Ortiz Mine can now be toured by the public (not for collecting) under a program operated by the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens. The dumps have long since been removed for use as road gravel, a sad fate suffered at many mineral localities.

A completed book on the history of the Ortiz by Homer is now available.

A great big round of applause for Homer!

Attendance: Attendance for tonight was about 90.

Refreshments: Mr. & Mrs. Orlando Garcia. Thanks, thanks, thanks.

AUGUST FIELD TRIP

Sunday, August 29

Rabb Park is 2.5 miles (5 mile round trip hike) from the road over a moderately difficult trail.  It starts out with a steep climb of maybe 400 feet and then more or less levels off.  If you are not used to hiking, this is not a trip for you.  This is also bear country.  I had one walk through my campsite a couple of years ago.  So prepare accordingly and plan to sleep away from where you store and cook food.  Rabb Park is also one of the few places I've seen a rattle snake here in NM.  Bring at least two quarts of water for the hike to Rabb Park. We will meet at the Iron Creek Campground Saturday evening.  We will gather in the morning, leave for Rabb Park at 7:30 AM, and arrive at the collecting area roughly at 10:00 AM.  After a productive day of rockhounding, we will leave at 2:00, and return to road by 4:00.  This should give folks time to get home comfortably Sunday evening. 

You could stay in TorC or Silver City overnight, just be at Iron Creek by 7:30 Sunday morning. Kingston has a B&B and Hillsboro may also. Searching Google may be useful.

The area into and around Rabb Park is densely vegetated and it is easy to get lost. I WILL NOT want people wandering off from the main group unless the wanderers use a GPS to get back to the collecting area. We will discuss this at the 7:30 meeting. Those of you who have GPSs, please bring them.

I have not been down at the Rabb Canyon moonstone site for quite a long time, and I doubt that more than a few of our members have ever been there. There are reasons for that. 1) It is quite a few miles down there, 2) one must walk a few miles off the road on a moderately difficult trail, 3) unless you have a vehicle with rather high clearance, you will be forced to leave it where vandals may see it, and 4) you are faced with the choice of camping overnight or driving another 25 miles or so to find a motel room in Silver City. Believe me that it is well worth all those troubles.

Back in the 1960’s, another Albuquerqian and I held mining claims on the moonstone deposit. However, we were not the first to do so. I think that the first claims may have been worked as far back as the earliest copper mining in the Silver City area. Then, again, perhaps not. At any rate, those who tried to mine those wonderful moonstones ran into the same problems that my partner and I faced. There is no road into the site, so it is very difficult to bring in equipment. Then, too, great care must be taken when trying to separate the moonstone from the worthless rock. The old drill-and-blast technique just shatters the moonstone. The only procedure possible seems to be careful chiseling using a dull steel chisel and hammer. For the casual collector, the most practical technique is collecting loose material from the surface and/or raking the loose sand to uncover loose moonstone pieces.

Ruth Bronson, an old-time facetor from west Albuquerque, became tired, sat down on a low bank, and scuffed the sand with her feet. In doing so, she uncovered a chunk of moonstone weighing several pounds. Only parts of the chunk were cuttable into bright silvery-white stones. Like most of the white moonstone, this one was nearly opaque but much, much brighter than the moonstone of India and other eastern countries. This specimen came from the north end of the site. Pieces taken from the southwest end are generally smaller, but the moonstone glow is a transparent sky blue and wonderful for faceting small gems.

Moonstone is a member of the feldspar family of minerals. Feldspars are the most common of all crystalline minerals. There are numerous feldspars and feldspar-like minerals. Most of them are listed as orthoclase (potassium-aluminum-silicate with varying crystal structure) or plagioclase (calcium-sodium-aluminum-silicate with the calcium and sodium varying with subtypes). The Rabb Canyon moonstone is a member of the orthoclase group called sanidine. Sanidine is a "high temperature polymorph of monoclinic orthoclase" and is much less abundant than other members of the orthoclase family. It tends to form as euhedral crystals with tetragonal Baveno twinning.

I have two very technical treatises on Rabb Canyon. One is titled, "Shallow, High-Temperature Pegmatites, Grant County, New Mexico" by V. C. Kelley and O. T. Branson. It is reasonably readable. The other is titled, "Preservation of Primary Magmatic Features in Subvolcanic Pegmatites, Aplites, and Granite From Rabb Park, New Mexico by James D. O’Brient. This second one tends to use all the tongue-tangling words the author could find in the dictionary. For example, the O’Brient article uses seven huge words on the first page. Examples are "consanguineous", "phaneritic", and "hypabyssal". Though tending toward the complex, both articles contain a great amount of information. Both should still be available through the University of New Mexico Library and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Library.

Climb the ridge on the west of the clearing, going, perhaps, 20 to 30 degrees north of west. You should reach a distinct trail near

the top of the ridge. This trail runs north a short distance to a second gate in the fence mentioned above. After reaching this second gate, the trail angles and goes nearly west across the ridge. If, however, you have found no trail and no gate at the top of the ridge, then go back to the trailhead. Now, follow the dirt road north no more than 100 yards to the east-west fence. Then, walk west up the fence line until you reach gate #2 near the top of the ridge. From this ridge-top gate, the trail leads gently up and down a few hundred yards before diving abruptly into Rabb Canyon.

Go up Rabb Canyon. There should be pools of water in the canyon bottom. If you look closely, then you will see bright blue flashes from tiny moonstones in the water. The canyon turns to the west a short distance upstream, and the water disappears in the sand. Continue up Rabb Canyon until you see a shallow arroyo on your right. There may be a trickle of water in the arroyo. Cross the arroyo and take a trail leading northwest. This trail goes only a short distance before crossing the arroyo. Follow the trail paralleling the arroyo, keeping it no more than 50 feet to your left. After about a quarter mile, the indistinct trail will reach a livestock corral. Turn to the left and walk to the arroyo bank. About a half truckload of white feldspar should be visible on the far side. It is opaque, cracked, and shows little adularescence. It is part of a pegmatite that follows a fissure down from the main deposit.

Get down in the arroyo and go up it no more than 30 yards to a very indistinct gulch that joins the main arroyo from the west. This gulch leads to the moonstone site. Follow it more or less to the west. The banks will begin to steepen. Watch for a trail angling up the right-hand bank. This trail will climb out to a bowl-like little mesa measuring no more than two or three acres. Majestic cedar trees stand tall in the bowl, some of the largest cedar trees I have ever seen. When you climb out of the gulch, continue a short distance west. You should see the remains of a tiny cabin. Blue moonstone is scattered on the sands between the cabin remains and the lower edge of a sharp ridge. Silver-white moonstone comes from the north part of the bowl. Shallow prospects are visible here and there along the west and north edges of the bowl. You will find lots of fine but very small bits of blue moonstone. The white moonstone will be in larger pieces. Few pieces of either will yield good cut stones.

Single moonstone crystals at this site have been reported as large as 13 inches by 13 inches by 20 inches. Quartz crystals as large as three feet long by 8 inches diameter have also been taken from this site. The quartz varies from colorless to jet black and smoky. Shallow trenches at the north end of the deposit have yielded pale amethyst. Some of the large crystals of quartz show as many as five growth interruptions, indicating numerous periods of intense volcanic action. There are other minerals, such as biotite, magnetite, ilmenite, and sphene that have also been reported here. Tiny blue crystals of sanidine feldspar occur in rhyolite from many places in New Mexico, but this seems to be the only known pegmatite producing large crystalline sanidine.

I once walked alone into the moonstone area to take some pictures. I have since decided that going alone was a bad idea. I parked my low-built car just off the paved road in the first clearing. I returned to the clearing several hours later, unlocked the car door, and placed the camera inside. That is when I heard a rattling noise. I looked around but saw nothing. Wary, I stood watching the area where the noise seemed to have originated. The rattle came again, someone’s discarded tin cans maybe. Then, about 25 feet away, behind a three-foot boulder, the rattle came again. A patch of dark brown fur showed momentarily above the boulder. I picked up a fist-size rock from down by my feet and threw it over the boulder. Thirty pounds of baby bear stuck its head over the boulder. Another rock launched in his direction sent him waddling toward shelter. With my car door open, I stood scanning the area, looking for mama bear. I never did see her, but you can bet she was not far away. The morale to the story is: when out in the wilds, walk carefully, always remain on the watch, AND NEVER GO ALONE!

A silicate that forms at or near the boundaries between Li-rich pegmatites and country rocks of basic composition (dark stuff). Crystals are slender prismatic or acicular to radiating fibrous aggregates. Cleavage – 2 at ~ 60 degrees plus some parallel partings. Transparent to translucent, Brittle - splintery, Luster – vitreous to satiny, Harness 5 – 6, Specific Gravity about 3.1, Color – dark violet to almost sky blue, Streak – black.

What is the name of the mineral?

Who was the mineral named for?

What is the mineral used for?

What are the major elements in the mineral?

What MINOR elements might you expect to find in this mineral?

--NM –

--USA –

--World –

Who was the mineral named for? Thomas Henry Holland (1868-1947), British Geologist and Director of the Geological Survey of India.

What is the mineral used for? Ore of Mn, cabs for jewelry

What are the major elements in the mineral? Barium, manganese, and oxygen.

Localities – (Just list the famous/important ones)

--NM – Luis Lopez District

--USA – Virgin Valley, NV

--World – India; Ultevis district – Sweden; Langenberg, Saxony, Germany

Wulfenite is one of the most popular minerals with collectors due to its bright colors, high luster and well-developed crystals.  New Mexico has an abundance of locations where wulfenite has been and still can be found.  The presentation this month will cover many of these locations and will include outstanding photographs by Dan Behnke, Arnold Hampson, and Jeff Scovil.